


You Were Made for Me

by curlsandcrown



Series: Made for Each Other [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 21:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12849534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlsandcrown/pseuds/curlsandcrown
Summary: Veronica's words haunt him while he's awake, when he's asleep, even when he's in a weird limbo between the two. She was made for you and you threw it away. / Follow-up to I Was Made for You





	You Were Made for Me

**Author's Note:**

> We received a comment on the original story asking for a part 2, so here it is!

The day of the funeral, Jughead guesses he's probably got twelves hours of sleep within the span of a week. He’s been ignoring all calls from the Serpents and spent most of his time curled up on the couch - sometimes with his head on his dad's lap like the child he never got to be. 

Veronica's words haunt him while he's awake, when he's asleep, even when he's in a weird limbo between the two.  _ She was made for you and you threw it away.  _ And honestly, he's scared to see Betty again. But she won't be his Betty anymore. 

The thought causes his stomach to knot up. 

“You ready, son?”

He turns towards his dad and feels his heart clench. “No - but there's no more time. There will never be enough time.” 

They head to their motorcycles and he stares at it, thinking about the times that Betty rode with him. So many memories are coming back to haunt him but FP notices the hesitation and whistles, nodding towards the truck instead. They both get in and it's quiet until they get to the church. The same one that he watched as they made the announcement when Polly was missing. 

Veronica is standing outside and he steps out of the truck, shuffling towards her like he’s a teenager instead of the 25 year old man that he is. The raven-haired girl smiles sadly at him, folding her hands in front of her. It's a beautiful day outside and it crushes him a little more. 

“Right now it's only family and close friends. Alice and I thought you'd like to see her before everyone else got here.”

He isn't sure why she's giving him this courtesy but he takes it with no complaint. But he's even more shocked when she takes his hand and leads him inside. Alice is standing there with with Hal, Polly and Archie. They all turn around when Veronica clears her throat and he flinches when Alice's icy stare meets his. 

“Jughead,” she says while coming up to him. 

“Alice,” his father warns before her face softens like they were misunderstanding her intentions.

She hesitates before looking at Betty's best friend then meeting his eyes again. “I wish I could blame you for this. God knows I _wanted_ to for so long, but this was the closest Betty and I have ever been. And for that, I owe you a small thank you.” They both seem to release a breath that they didn’t realize they were holding. “Are you ready to see her?” 

All he can do is nod and Veronica squeezes his hand before Alice takes it in replacement. They move up the aisle going up to the coffin and Archie can't meet his eyes. At first he's confused but he sees the redhead squeezing his eyes shut and tears on his eyelashes, his body shaking as if he’s trying to hold in a sob. Part of him wonders why until he reaches it.

He doesn't recognize her. 

Jughead wants to ask Alice but he sees the recognition in  _ her  _ eyes, the ones that look so like Betty's. His own blue ones look down at the woman in front of him. She's wearing a dress that looks like it would swallow her if she wasn’t laying flat. Her hair is still beautiful and shiny but she looks so much smaller than that final day in the trailer. Her cheeks are a bit more sunken in and he can see her collarbones so clearly. 

Tears fill his eyes and he just wants to see her green eyes once more but he knows he never will. 

There's a squeeze on his hand and he looks over to Alice. It's then that he realizes how much she's aged. She leans forward and brushes her fingers against Betty’s blonde hair and he briefly wonders if it’s still as soft as it was when he would run his own fingers through it.  

“You can touch her, if you'd like. We've all held her hand.”

His chest constricts but he reaches in with his free hand then holds her gently. She's so cold. Not at all like the warmth of her hand when she last caressed his cheek and kissed him goodbye.

It's all too much and he breaks down, leaning against the coffin and starts crying. His brain registers somewhere that he's causing more crying behind him but Alice pulls him against her, letting him cry against his chest while his hand holds the girl he loved. 

“She loved you so much, Forsythe. It hurt her to be apart from you but she understood you had another path, one that didn’t have her next to your side. She tried to move on….she really did but she couldn't bare anyone to touch her or take a spot that was reserved for you.” 

He cries even harder until he collapses to the ground. 

_ It's all his fault. _

“How?”

Alice runs her hand through his hair, the two of them on the ground. “How what, honey?”

The sentiment feels like a stab to his heart. “How do I get out from the Serpents? You did it….tell me how. I need to know.”

She looks to FP then shakes her head. “Not now.”

He feels another set of arms around him and realizes it's Veronica. 

“Get up, Jug. And say goodbye. It's nearly time for everyone else to get here. We'll give you a minute alone.”

He nods but holds onto Veronica’s hand. “Stay close by? Please.” 

She nods and he stands, still feeling like he’ll start hysterically crying again. They all clear the room but Veronica sits in the front row near the end. 

Jughead stands there, looking down at her again as he wipes his sleeve across his face, something that she would’ve ‘tsk’ed him about in another life. He takes her hand and he memorizes her face. There are bite marks on her lower lip and he briefly wonders what the palms of her hands look like. The best he can, he turns one palm up and feels his heart break at the scars that are littered on the cool skin. 

“I’m so sorry, Betty. I know it doesn’t mean anything now that you’re gone. I hate myself for the way I sent you away. It was all too much - loving you and being that Jughead with you  _ and _ being the Serpent Prince. I should’ve asked my dad or maybe even your mom how to handle it but I was a coward. For so long I pushed you away and now I can see what it was doing to you. Of course I didn’t know the extent.” He pauses and with his free hand, pulls out the crown beanie that he quit wearing after she left. “I never wore this after you left. That part of me died. Now I feel like all of me is gone.” He sniffs and turns the piece of fabric over between his fingers. “I tried to imagine you being happy somewhere with that bright smile of yours. Laughing and turning your face up to the sun - almost like that day of the race. You were gorgeous. You still are.” 

His chin quivers and he squeezes her hand. “I will always love you, Elizabeth Cooper. And I am so incredibly sorry that I pushed you to this. You were always it for me and I hope that I’ll get to see you again.” 

He sets the beanie into her casket, underneath the hand that he was holding. His fingers stroke the material and the back of her hand before he leans forward and brushes his lips against her forehead then against her lips. “I love you, Betts. Please don’t forget that wherever you are.” 

A hand rests against his back and he turns to Veronica. She’s crying with him and she reaches in to run her fingers over the beanie and her best friend’s hand like he did. 

“She knew that it was always you two. And Betty knew with all her heart that you still loved her, deep down no matter what had happened. Many times, sometimes even when I would visit her and she was off in her own headspace while looking out the window, she put herself in your shoes and she does understand because the Black Hood manipulated her the way the Serpents were with you. Betty would talk me through it, how she understood. How it made it easier to know that your family was looking out for you.” She pauses and takes his hand in hers though they still look down at Betty. “Once you forgive yourself, you can live for the both of you. And I will be here, every step of the way. So will Archie.”

“I’m going to get out, Ronnie.”

She smiles and leans her head against his arm, both of them looking down at the girl they love. “I believe you.”

 

A few hours later, they’re standing in the cemetery and everyone is starting to leave. It was a beautiful ceremony though he expected no less from the Cooper’s, anything for their little girl. Family and her closest friends stay as they start to lower her into the ground. His heart aches as it starts to move closer to her finally resting spot, his breath hitching every inch it moves though he tries to keep it together. 

They stay even as the crew pours the dirt and resets the grass but her tombstone isn’t there yet. He decides that he’ll have to come back to see it and put her favorite flowers down. 

At some point, it’s just him, Veronica and Alice sitting there. Archie opted to go help Polly with the twins and help Hal clean up for a dinner they were going to have. FP wanted to give them all some space and headed back to the trailer, not wanting to face the Serpents himself. Alice’s fingers are running through the grass but they’re all out of tears. 

“How did you get out?”

She smiles sadly, her fingers running over the flower arrangement that shows the world that a soul was just laid to rest. “I fell in love with an outsider. The Serpents didn’t approve and kicked me out.” 

Veronica looks to him and takes his hand. “Your father understands. I think if you say you want out, they won’t fight you on it. Not this time.” 

Jughead nods and before he can say anything else, Alice reaches forward and kisses the flower, murmuring something to the soil. 

“We should go back to the house and eat. It’s been a very long, emotional day.” 

They nod and he stands up then helps the two of them up as well. The two women hold onto his hand and he has never felt safer than he does with the Serpents. 

 

Later that night, he’s sitting in Betty’s room with Veronica. The raven-haired girl is going through a few things and trying to decide what she’d like to keep. She finds Betty’s journals and puts them off to the side. 

“I think you might want these. Let me know if you see anything else you’d like me to pack up.” 

He smiles gratefully at her and looks around. He sees her laptop and he opens it, wondering if her password is still the same. Fortunately it is and there’s a photo of them on the desktop. Running his fingers over the keys, he pulls up a document and begins to type for the first time since that year he joined the Serpents. 

Veronica turns and looks at him, a sincere smile lighting up her face because it’s like a very small, old part of him is back.

* * *

 

_ She’s walking along the beach, an ethereal glow around her as the sun sets in front of them. He can’t help but think that she looks angelic and carefree in this moment. His love twirls around and her laugh is infectious. Kids along the sand are waving to her and she even bends down to inspect one sandcastle.  _

_ Betty looks towards him, her bright green eyes filled with love and mischief before taking her bottom lip between her teeth. Soon the kids run off as a their parents call them away.  _

_ “Why are you all the way back there? Come here, Jace.”  _

_ She stands and holds her hand out to him so he jogs towards her then sweeps her up in his arm.  _

_ “I love you, Mrs Jones.” _

_ “And I love you. This is the best honeymoon a girl could ask for. Are you ready to move to London next month?”  _

_ “I’m ready as long as I have you by my side.”  _

 

He chews on his thumbnail as his agent reads his newest manuscript. It had been in the works for years but he feels like now is the right time. 

“The wedding, the honeymoon...just getting away and the  _ freedom _ from everything that held them down.” She rests the manuscript against her heart, sniffing a bit. “It is the perfect ending that she would have  _ loved,  _ Jughead. But why did you change your name?”

Jughead looks up to Veronica and shrugs. “Because she deserves the happy ending with someone who wasn’t a coward. A man with a good name.” 

His best friend, the one who helped him to move to New York and start fresh, who had been by his side ever since he left Riverdale and the Serpents shakes her head and clutches the bound pieces of paper tightly. 

“She did get the man she deserved, Jug. Loving you made her life brighter. Even at the end because she knew that no matter what universe or time you two ended up in, you’d find each other.” She reaches across the desk and squeezes his hand. “Change it to your name. Let the world feel your love for Betty Cooper the way I have.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Written by J.
> 
> Requests are open on Tumblr (curlsandcrown). 
> 
> J + R


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